Two stabbed at Taco Beach downtown

LB Gang detectives investigating stabbing at Downtown Taco Beach location

Young crowd parties at Taco Beach Downtown

Two men were stabbed shortly after 1 am in the downtown Long Beach Taco Beach.  Later a third stabbing victim showed up at a local hospital.

Police believe that the Taco Beach stabbing and the third stabbing are related. The Long Beach Gang detectives are investigating the incident.

Click on LBP Taco Beach stabbing

The Downtown Taco Beach "Cantina" draws a younger nightclub crowd on the weekends.

In February 2013, Serena Medina, a 24 year-old mother was killed when she was run-down on Pine Street after leaving a fight in the downtown Taco Beach.

According to the Press-Telegram report:

"Witnesses observed a group involved in an altercation, Arrona said. Family members of the victim said it started at Taco Beach, 211 Pine Ave. It is unclear who was fighting, but a crowd ultimately spilled out onto the street, they said.

Peralta said two men got into a car and reversed the vehicle, hitting Medina"

For more information click on:

Taco Beach Press Telegram

Taco Beach has three locations, Downtown, the Airport and Los Altos Village.  When opening the Los Altos Village location the owner originally applied to stay open until 2 am.  The Los Altos Village residents protested the liquor license at the local and state level.  Restrictions on the license resulted in the Taco Beach Los Altos Village location becoming a family friendly local favorite.  

Two years ago the owners applies to extend alcohol serving hours past the restrictions at the Los Altos Village location. Residents objected to the extension and pointed to the original agreement to withdrawal their protests to the alcohol license which was partly due to the current restrictions on the hours.  Facing an ABC denial of the request, the owners withdrew the increase to increase alcohol  hours request.

For menu and other information, visit the Taco Beach website :

TACO BEACH

CSULB report on Atherton St projects

 Supernaw's monthly meeting will feature CSULB staff presentation on proposed CSULB Alumni Center and new student housing on Atherton

Councilman Daryl Supernaw's monthly neighborhood meeting at the Los Altos Library will feature CSULB Staff with a follow-up presentation on two developments on Atherton Street.  A new Alumni Center and a new student housing center.

The newest updates come after unprecedented neighborhood outreach under CSULB President Dr. Jane Conoley.  The projects, which  have faced pushback from community stakeholders, were planned well before Dr. Conoley became CSULB President.  

Last year, Dr. Conoley personally moved to improve communication with the University adjacent neighborhoods.

Councilman Supernaw's meeting will take place at the Los Altos Library WEDNESDAY May 29, from 5 pm to 6 pm.

For more information click on:
Student Dorms

Conoley meeting

Alumni Center

CSULB Community page

Quality Cleaners closes

Los Altos Village Quality Cleaners closes and former Dunn Edwards building for lease 

Los Altos Village Quality Cleaners closes and former Dunn Edwards building for lease The Quality Cleaners at 5453 E Stearns St has closed. 

Customers were told that the new property owners had increased the rent that made remaining open prohibitive. All the business properties at the corner are owned by the same owner- the building with Quality Cleaners and Headliners Salon, Wendy's and the former bank and Dunn Edwards paint store. 

The previous owner reportedly had plans to develop the whole lot into a Walgreen's. However, the lot is directly adjacent to single family homes making a new drive-through option not available to the property. 

The new owners have also placed the former Dunn-Edwards building at 2211 N Bellflower Blvd. up for lease. The building was built in the 1950's and features the era's mid-century architecture.

Airport Commission revisions, Sears UPDATE and Payless Shoes liquidates

Airport Commission to explore "revisions"

The Long Beach Airport Commission's Thursday February 21st Agenda Item 7 calls for  a creation of an Airport Commission "ad-hoc Committee" to suggest revisions to both the Long Beach Municipal Code Section 2.18 and Section 2.27.  Agenda Item 7 states:

"Recommendation to create ad-hoc Committee to suggest revisions to Long Beach Municipal Code, Chapters 2.18 and 2.27"

Section  2.18 of the Long Beach Municipal Code stated purpose is to establish " uniform regulations for Council established advisory boards, commissions and committees". 

Section 2.27 deals specifically with establishing the Airport Commission.   The section contains three parts :  the creation of the commission; commission members; and commission duties.

So what can be revised in these two sections of the Long Beach Municipal Code?

Section 2.27.010 is only about creating the commission.  Section 2.27.020 has two parts. First about commission members being residents of Long Beach, and this important financial part:

"No member may participate in any decision in which he or she has a material financial interest within the meaning of the California political reform act. Each member shall file a statement of economic interest in accordance with the California political reform act."

Section 2.27.030 covers the duties and mandate of the Airport Commission. The section also has three parts. The first two parts are regarding what the commission's duties are:

"A. The duties of the commission shall be as follows: Generally to consult with and advise the city council in formulating city policies regarding the development and operation of the Long Beach Municipal Airport;

B. To study and analyze, for the purpose of evaluation and recommendation of policy, problems which have been referred to it by the city council, including, but not limited to: (1) a review of the master plan for the municipal airport and possible revision of modification thereof; and (2) a review of and the preparation of recommendations with respect to, fees, rental schedules and standards of service of the municipal airport."

The final part of the section clearly states that  commissioners have no supervisory role in  the day-to-day operations of the airport.

So again, what can be revised?  

Section 2.18 is about the powers of the City Council to establish commissions and  its powers over the commissions. Can the Airport Commission recommend a revision of the Council's subject matter jurisdiction- especially when the Council did not refer the matter to the Airport Commission?

Possible revisions to Section  2.27 that directly deal with the Airport Commission are equally perplexing.  Revising the fact that an airport commissioner must live in the city or that: "No member may participate in any decision in which he or she has a material financial interest"  does not seem realistic.   The code's description of duties as "Generally to consult with and advise the city council"  and the requirement that the Airport Commission address items that are "referred to it by the city council" all seem appropriate in preventing the Airport Commission or individual commissioner going rogue.

Equally as perplexing is that the Item 7, according to the Agenda, is sponsored by the Long Beach Airport. The airport currently has an Interim Director. In addition, the Item 7  "Staff Recommendation" for this possible Pandora's Box is to   "Approve recommendation".

So what revisions do the staff envision and is it the staff who is going rogue?

The Long Beach Airport Commission will be meeting at the Long Beach Airport Marriott, 4700 Airport Plaza Drive at 4:00 pm on Thursday February 21, 2019.

For more information click on:

Airport Commission Agenda 

Section 2.18

Section 2.27

Sears and Kmart UPDATES

On Thursday February 7th,  Judge Robert Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York City approved the $5.2 billion hedge fund bid for the remaining  425 Sears and Kmart stores by Sears Holding Chairman Eddie Lampert.   Judge Drain approved the sale over the objections of the Sears creditors, landlords and major merchandise vendors who wanted the company liquefied to collect the $3 billion owed to them.  

Before his decision, Judge Drain received a letter from representatives of  Sears Holding's Sears and Kmart store employees asking the Judge to save their jobs.  Media reports further state the employee's letter stated: "We have deep concerns that if Eddie Lampert takes the helm again, the Sears and Kmart we know and love will be gone forever. We believe that with insight and accountability from the workforce, new Sears has the chance to succeed.." .

On Friday, February 15th, Eddie Lambert resigned from his position as Sears Holdings Chairman. He remained Chair of the new holding company created to takeover Sears Holdings- Transform Holdco LLC.  As Chairman of Transform Holdco, Lambert will hire his replacement for the Sears CEO position.

Last week in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Lampert described his vision that he wants the new Sears Chair to carryout.  Plans include selling or subleasing some of the remaining stores and devoting more space to tools and appliances.  Lambert is also focused on downsizing stores to smaller formats.  While Sears sold its Craftsman Tool brand, the company still owns Sears Auto Centers, Sears Home Services, Kenmore Appliance brands and the Diehard brand.

For more information click on:

WSJ: Edward Lampert’s Plan for Sears: Smaller Stores, Less Apparel

Los Altos Payless liquidation sale
Payless Shoes announced last week it is closing all of its retail stores and online business.

Payless currently operates more than 2,700 stores in North America and Puerto Rico including two in Long Beach.  Payless filed for bankruptcy protection first in 2017 and will again file by the end of the month.  

The Los Altos location has been busy since the announcement and has liquidation signs up

CORRECTED LINK

The correct link to this post on LB4D is below:

 Long Beach 4th District BLOG:

CSULB Community Meeting focuses on Alumni Center, Puvungna lands and new neighborhood website

Natural Gas sticker shock across Long Beach

New Long Beach Political Facebook page -just in time for (more) elections

CORRECT LINK to view the post  click on

https://longbeach4d.blogspot.com/2019/01/alumni-center-and-puvungna-csulb-and-lb.html

Check back with the LB4D Blog often...not all postings are announced

Long Beach Sears and Kmart fate lies in  Bankruptcy Auction on Monday

The fate of the Long Beach Sears and Kmart stores and properties will play out in a high finance drama in New York City starting  on Monday January 14, 2019.

Sears Holdings Corp. Chairman Eddie Lampert's more than $5 billion bid to take over the  remaining 425 stores that are still open will face off against any other proposals to liquidate the remaining assets of the once iconic retailer.

By all news accounts, most of Sears current creditors are skeptical of Lambert's bid through his hedge-fund company ESL. 

Since the October 2018 Sears Holding Company bankruptcy filing, Lampert has been working to save the remaining Sears/Kmart stores and assets and 68,000 remaining jobs.

But some of Sears’ creditors are skeptical of ESL, and it’s not yet known how the hedge fund’s proposal stacks up against other offers for the company’s assets through liquidation.  

Aside from the store properties and inventory, other assets include Sears Home Services business and brands like Kenmore and DieHard. Sears’ intellectual property assets could also be bought by a company that could bring the brand back online or in brick-and-mortar stores.

As a back-up plan, ESL also has reported that it would bid on some pieces of the Sears business individually.

Last week, the Sears Holding Board of Directors signaled they would reject Lampert's original bid of $4.3 billion for the Friday January 11th deadline for an outright sale.

On Thursday January 10th, Sears Chairman put up a required $120 million on Wednesday January 9, 2019 he needed to post in advance to qualify for Monday's auction.

Also on Thursday January 10th, Lampert increased his bid to $5 billion.  That new offer also takes on roughly $166 million in payment obligations to vendors and  gives an additional $43 million to severance costs.  Lampert's ESL  hedge fund will also assume $135 million in tax bills for properties that Lampert hopes to acquire as part of his bid and pick up tax and supplier bills that Sears incurred during bankruptcy proceedings.

Two of those properties are the 4th District's Los Altos Center Sears and the 5th District's Los Altos Gateway Kmart.

Sears creditors oppose Lampert’s  plan because it includes a bankruptcy move called a “credit bid.” .  The credit bid in his $5 billion offer is to forgive the $1.3 billion of Sears debt his ESL company holds and use that "credit" as part of the currency for his offer.  

Last week the Sears Board allowed the Lampert bid to proceed, but the U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain who is overseeing the case will have to make a ruling if the credit bid will be allowed.  Drain has stated that the laws favor bids that save jobs, which Lampert's bid appears to do.

In the timeline filed with the court, Sears will notify the Bankruptcy Court of the auction results by Wednesday January 16, 2019.  Those unhappy with the action results have eight days to challenge the outcome in court. Ultimately Judge Robert Drain has to approve the sale of Sears’ assets.

Whaley Park Lighting of the Letters is Sunday

Whaley Park Dec 2nd

Lighting of the Letters

Sunday December 2nd is the Annual Whaley  Park Lighting of the Letters

The Lighting of the Letters tradition returns this year on December 3nd to the Los Altos Village neighborhood adjacent to Whaley Park (North)  with the 4th Annual Lighting of the Letters community kick-off event marking the return of  giant letters spelling out  holiday greetings. 

In the 1950's during the holidays residents living around Whaley Park North each displayed one giant letter that combined spelled out around the perimeter of the park the holiday messages of Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

1950's vintage Whaley Park letter

Why the tradition was lost and what happened to most of the old letters remains a mystery. As the years went by, enough people still remembered the old tradition as the occasional random letter was found as the homes changed hands over the years, keeping the mid-century Whaley Park Christmas Letters story alive.

Fast forward to the 21st Century. In 2015 former LB Airport

City Prosecutor Doug Haubert

Commissioner and now Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert (and long-time 4th District resident) worked with an airline called Kalitta Charters to settle 13 LB Noise Ordinance violations for $54,000. Separate from the first Long Beach Airport Consent Degree fines that go to the Long Beach Library Foundation, the 2015 Kalitta agreement funds went to the Long Beach Community Foundation to establish and administer two community funds that would directly benefit the airport impacted neighborhoods in the 4th and 8th Council Districts. 

In the 4th District, the fund created is called the Los Altos Charitable Giving Fund (LACGF). Fourth District Councilman Daryl Supernaw was asked to recommend a committee to plan and oversee LACGF projects. The eventual Los Altos resident committee members, Michele "K" Kreinheder, Bill Marshall and Joe Mello met and quickly decided to bring back the Whaley Park Christmas Letters tradition.

To contribute to the Los Altos Giving Fund click on: LOS ALTOS

In 2015, a kick-off  event at Whaley Park took place announcing the plans to bring back the holiday letters with displays of one of the original holiday letters and a prototype of the new letters. In 2016. the new letters were installed and neighbors from all over Los Altos Village showed up to see the new letters, hand made by the  Long Beach Area Council of Boy Scouts.

New Whaley Park Letters made by the Long Beach Area Council of Boy Scouts

The LACGF committee in cooperation with Councilman Supernaw's office and the Los Altos Village Neighbors organize the event.

Los Altos Village's own popular Santa will return again this year as will the bounce house, holiday music and other family fun. Neighbors are encouraged to bring cookies and treats to share.

A box to collect unwrapped toys to distribute to needy families will also be available at the Lighting of the Letters event.

Los ALtos Village t-shirts

Los Altos Village neighborhood shirts and flags will also be available with proceeds going to support Los Altos Village Neighbors. 

Los Altos Great Mex displays neighborhood flag

Lloyd Whaley developed the planned community neighborhoods of  East Long Beach including Los Altos Village and Park Estates (originally called Los Altos Park Estates). Whaley also planned and built the Los Altos Shopping Center .

Other Whaley developments include the neighborhood of Country Club Manor in North Long Beach and the Galaxy Tower on Ocean Blvd in Bluff Park.  Whaley donated land for numerous public uses around Long Beach including Whaley Park, the Los Altos Public 


To contribute to the Los Altos Giving Fund click on:  LOS ALTOS 

Los Altos Post Office holiday hours

Los Altos Post Office extended holiday service

Beginning December 1, 2018 the Los Altos Village  Post Office will be open with extended hours and 7 days a week.

The Post Office is located in the North Los Altos Shopping Center at 2234 N Bellflower Blvd.

Whaley Park Dec 2nd

Lighting of the Letters

Sunday December 2nd is the Annual

Whaley Park Lighting of the Letters

The Lighting of the Letters tradition returns this year on December 3nd to the Los Altos Village neighborhood adjacent to Whaley Park (North)  with the 4th Annual Lighting of the Letters community kick-off event marking the return of  giant letters spelling out  holiday greetings. 

In the 1950's during the holidays residents living around Whaley Park North each displayed one giant letter that combined spelled out around the perimeter of the park the holiday messages of Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

1950's vintage Whaley Park letter

Why the tradition was lost and what happened to most of the old letters remains a mystery. As the years went by, enough people still remembered the old tradition as the occasional random letter was found as the homes changed hands over the years, keeping the mid-century Whaley Park Christmas Letters story alive.

Fast forward to the 21st Century. In 2015 former LB Airport

City Prosecutor Doug Haubert

Commissioner and now Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert (and long-time 4th District resident) worked with an airline called Kalitta Charters to settle 13 LB Noise Ordinance violations for $54,000. Separate from the first Long Beach Airport Consent Degree fines that go to the Long Beach Library Foundation, the 2015 Kalitta agreement funds went to the Long Beach Community Foundation to establish and administer two community funds that would directly benefit the airport impacted neighborhoods in the 4th and 8th Council Districts. 

In the 4th District, the fund created is called the Los Altos Charitable Giving Fund (LACGF). Fourth District Councilman Daryl Supernaw was asked to recommend a committee to plan and oversee LACGF projects. The eventual Los Altos resident committee members, Michele "K" Kreinheder, Bill Marshall and Joe Mello met and quickly decided to bring back the Whaley Park Christmas Letters tradition.

To contribute to the Los Altos Giving Fund click on: LOS ALTOS

In 2015, a kick-off  event at Whaley Park took place announcing the plans to bring back the holiday letters with displays of one of the original holiday letters and a prototype of the new letters. In 2016. the new letters were installed and neighbors from all over Los Altos Village showed up to see the new letters, hand made by the  Long Beach Area Council of Boy Scouts.

New Whaley Park Letters made by the Long Beach Area Council of Boy Scouts

The LACGF committee in cooperation with Councilman Supernaw's office and the Los Altos Village Neighbors organize the event.

Los Altos Village's own popular Santa will return again this year as will the bounce house, holiday music and other family fun. Neighbors are encouraged to bring cookies and treats to share.

A box to collect unwrapped toys to distribute to needy families will also be available at the Lighting of the Letters event.

Los ALtos Village t-shirts

Los Altos Village neighborhood shirts and flags will also be available with proceeds going to support Los Altos Village Neighbors. 

Los Altos Great Mex displays neighborhood flag

Lloyd Whaley developed the planned community neighborhoods of  East Long Beach including Los Altos Village and Park Estates (originally called Los Altos Park Estates). Whaley also planned and built the Los Altos Shopping Center .

Other Whaley developments include the neighborhood of Country Club Manor in North Long Beach and the Galaxy Tower on Ocean Blvd in Bluff Park.  Whaley donated land for numerous public uses around Long Beach including Whaley Park, the Los Altos Public 


To contribute to the Los Altos Giving Fund click on:  LOS ALTOS